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Schooling Memories presents a collection of oral history interviews that looks back to the middle decades of the twentieth century (1930s to 1970s) from the viewpoint of students, teachers, school counsellors, and educational administrators. Interviews were conducted as part of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project, Educating the Australian Adolescent: An Historical Study of Curriculum, Student Counselling and Citizenship, 1930s–1970s.
The oral history interviews capture memories of events and experiences that shed light on various aspects of education and schooling across the twentieth century. These include, for example, citizenship in the making and the role of schools in that process, both through the curriculum and through formal and informal student support structures, like guidance and counselling. Interviews with different educational actors (i.e., students, teachers, policy & administration, counselling staff) reveal how formal education has been crucial to the development of future citizens through various practices and rituals of schooling, from assemblies and singing the national anthem, to curriculum areas such as civics and social studies. Interview summaries have been organised in two main ways: the role of the participant and by the decade relevant to their student or teaching experiences.
You can scroll down to see the interviews or select from menu at right to see more on the project, including the various publications that have arisen from the project. Some of the research data will also soon be also available to researchers through the SOCEY (Studies of Childhood, Education & Youth) Repository, hosted at the Australian Data Archive. Information about how to access to the recordings and transcripts is available on the contact page.
Image: Grade 3 Teacher Preparing for a Film Showing, Brunswick East Primary School, 1954. Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 14514/P1, Unit 6.
